Business, life and risk are inextricably intertwined.
Life itself is a risky business. And as with life, where
the only sure way to avoid risk is to die, no business
can escape risk altogether while it continues to trade.

Risk is an inevitable part of life, activity, achievement;
but if allowed to, it can block all progress. An old
skiers' expression says: 'if you're not failing over,
you're not learning'; but that doesn't mean you want
to spend your whole time nose down in the snow.

Risk is unavoidable. We either master it or remain at
its mercy.

It takes experience, expertise and vision to master
risk. To understand it, control it, harness it, and make
it work for rather than against your strategic
objectives. But it can be done, and it can deliver real
and substantial benefits.

It is possible to turn risk to your advantage.

It's not about how much protection you need.
It's about how little.

To take a strategic view of risk is to view it in relation
to return.

The conventional view of the insurance broker or
retailer is someone who simply arranges protection,
transferring clients' risks to insurers for the lowest
possible premium. Risk professionals take a broader,
longer term view.

From the perspective of the client, insurance is a
necessary evil - you buy coverage not because you
want to, but because you can't afford not to. But
that's as far as it goes. And too much coverage can
be as bad as too little. To remove risk entirely
devalues a business. It's a bit like building a family
car with armored steel-plate: it would be a very safe
car - but it wouldn't move. Which would rather
defeat the object.

In fact, it's not a question of 'Insurance good;
exposure bad'. Rather, ideally, 'how little insurance
do you need to get the balance right?' By taking a
broader perspective, and assessing risk/return ratios
with reference to our clients' underlying strategic
objectives, we help them get their coverage not high,
but right.

The upshot being adequate protection and a healthier
bottom line.

Don't tell us what insurance you want.
Tell us what you want to be.

Business is about adding value; risk management is
about enabling you to do it. That, of course, includes
ensuring survival: you can't do a lot if you don't
survive. But that's just the beginning.

Cutting your costs plays its part: even where it's just
a question of 'getting a better deal on the deal',
money saved through expertise and contacts is money
free to be put to better use. But beyond that, risk
management can make dreams come true.

Don't tell us what insurance you want; tell us what
you want to be.

One of our clients, for example, wanted to be a movie
mogul. They were looking to start up a movie company
from scratch - but without surrendering equity or
paying a significant premium for finance. We created a
custom-designed insurance policy backing up a $100
million bond issue, protecting new investors for all
principal and interest payments through to maturity.

The 'impossible' made profitable reality; purely through
the application of risk management expertise.

We are Willis
10,000 people in 250 offices worldwide

After around 170 years in business, we have now
brought together our numerous practices as, simply,
'Willis' - an expression Of Our singje-mindedness and
unity of purpose. We are not a broker. We are not
a consultancy. We are neither, and both, and more
than both.

We are The Risk Practice, and we have one goal:
your success.

We are 10,000 risk management experts in 250
offices around the world, Contact one and you access
all. Whatever the nature of the challenge you face, we
will assemble the team to meet that challenge,
combining the skills you need and applying them on
your behalf, delivering our total capability through a
single point of contact.

We deliver the service you need. If you want nothing
more than expert broking, to get you the best
coverage at the best price, that's fine. if you have a
problem, we can help you solve it. If you don't have
a specific problem, but would like to look into doing
things better and doing better things, we can help.

Risk is good: we are here to turn it to your advantage.

You can't be certain about the future.
But you can prepare for it.

If we knew the future, we wouldn't need insurance.
But we don't. The next best thing is the best possible
calculations of probability, based on ever more
sophisticated mathematical modeling techniques.

Whether natural events like earthquakes or man
made processes like traffic, there are underlying
factors at work which can be identified, quantified,
and factored into computer models to generate
accurate assessments of both the likelihood of any
given event and the consequential losses which
would result.

For one example, a major Japanese insurer needed
a clearer and more accurate picture of Tokyo
earthquakes. Armed with the right model, they can
now write coverage confidently, making good money
without taking on bad exposure. For another, insurers,
businesses and governments worldwide need to
gauge hurricanes. Our sophisticated models can
provide their understanding. Had they been available
in the planning, ahead of the storm of June 1998, the
evacuation of New Orleans could have been avoided
in the knowledge that its destructive power would be
adequately dissipated over the Gulf of Mexico. We
can't, sadly, prevent catastrophes - just control their
financial consequences.

Where absolute certainty is impossible, better
understanding enables better decisions. And better
decisions can save - or make - very large amounts
of money.

We know what we're good at.
We bring the best people together to make things happen.

We can't do everything - and nor can anyone else.
And anyone who claims otherwise is a fool, an
impostor or both. Today's business world is simply too
complex and fast-moving.

At Willis, we don't pretend to be 'all things to all men',
drawing solely on our in-house resources - substantial
though they are. What we do claim is that our breadth
of experience and wide range of contacts allows us to
pinpoint, access and coordinate the necessary skills to
provide an effective solution, whatever the need.

We have contacts throughout the world of business -
insurance and otherwise. Equally important, we
have excellent relations with experts in academic
institutions around the world, who enjoy applying their
expertise to the world of business, though they
wouldn't want to live there. From pure mathematics to
geology, economics to meteorology, their leading edge
concepts and analytical tools give us the edge when it
comes to solving problems and opening up
opportunities for our clients.

Nor do we have any qualms about working in teams
with 'competitors' of ours. As business borders blur, our
peers can be simultaneously both competitors and
partners. And we have no problem with that, so long
as the competition is fair and open, the partnership
based on mutual respect and mutual benefit.

'Us or Them' thinking is history: the future is about
working together in ever-shifting alliances of
complementary capabilities to make things happen.
It's the ends that matter, not the means.